One of the important factors in designing a ramp or incline is the width. It is determined by the skip with the largest width. There are two general rules for determining this width:
- For a two-lane road, including curbs and drains, the minimum road width must be four times the width of the skip.
- For a road with a single haulage lane, half the width of the skip should be left on the left and right of the skip.
In mines, you’ll never see a straight line when it comes to the haulage route for ore.
This peculiarity of underground mining as well as open-pit mining raises some questions.
What is the importance of inclines?
In fact, inclines are the compromise between the length and the technical performance limitations of skips and other traction equipment.
These slopes vary between 8% and a maximum of 10% for dump trucks.
The 8% slope gives more flexibility to the operation.
If the slope is less than 8%, it increases the length of the track, increases the stripping ratio and complicates the project design.
Furthermore, it increases the cycle time of trucks and has a direct impact on diesel consumption which increases with a significant decrease in speed.
On the other hand, diesel engines, by providing a lot of energy, work in overload and there is a risk of rapid deterioration of the engines which are nevertheless expensive.
Faulty engines inevitably lead to higher maintenance costs, which sometimes lead to additional expenses.
The choice of the slope angle of the tracks in mining is therefore a crucial parameter that has a direct impact on productivity.
